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Highlands Today

Toy Sweep Yields Good News

KATHY WATERS/HIGHLANDS TODAY

Suzette Rhoades with Happy Owl Party and Education Supply said parents question if the brightly painted educational toys have lead paint. Her suppliers have assured they do not contain harmful levels of lead.

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By Gary Pinnell | Highlands Today

Published: December 14, 2007

SEBRING — Ready for some good news about the Christmas toy recall?

Florida's consumer services commissioner sent inspectors to 154 stores last week, and found only three recalled toys.

None were in Highlands County, said spokesman Terence McElroy, although it's not known if inspectors came to the county.

Two of the toys recalled were Pull-Back Action Toys, which are sold in Dollar General and Big Lots stores for $1 per pack.

The pull-and-release toy cars and fighter jets are made in China. The paint on the toys contains excessive lead levels. About 380,000 packages have been recalled.

Based on the survey, McElroy believes most retailers have pulled almost all recalled toys from the shelves.

Inspectors made a list and checked for 70 toys recalled in 2007. Problems have included excessive lead paint, choking and strangulation hazards, sharp edges, and laceration dangers.

Bad Toys

About 25 million children's products were considered dangerous, including Elmo, Barbie and Thomas the Tank Engine.

From June to November, 74 lead-tainted children's products were recalled — more than three times the number flagged in the first five months of the year.

But the dangerous toys are still on shelves, according to a recent random test of 40 toys and pieces of jewelry bought by the Tampa Tribune. Dangerous levels of lead were present in pieces of children's jewelry bought at two of 10 randomly selected retailers and tested by an independent laboratory used by the Hillsborough County Health Department.

All 40 showed at least a trace of lead. But two pieces of jewelry, or 5 percent of the total, contained more than 0.06 percent lead, one of two government standards. One metal charm bracelet from a Tampa Big Lots contained 0.36 percent — more than six times the standard.

At Wal-Mart, there are two layers of safety, said spokesman Kory Lundberg. "We let our stores know immediately, and they pull the products off the shelf.

"We also place a block on the cash register, so if we've missed one, or put one back, when a customer takes it to the register, it won't scan through for a sale."

Suzette Rhoades and Kaye Pigman own the Happy Owl, which sells educational and developmental toys in a shopping center on U.S. 27. They help children learn math and speech skills, as well as hand-eye coordination.

"We don't deal with toys from Mattel and Fisher-Price like the big box stores," said Rhoades. Some are made in China, like Melissa & Doug toys and Learning Resource toys.

A manufacturer's repre-sentative lets Pigman and Rhoades know which toys have been recalled. So far, they've never had to pull a toy from their shelves, Rhoades said.

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